Mama Roja Mexican Kitchen, Oklahoma City, OK

This is one of the newer restaurants on the Lake Hefner waterfront east shore. Our good friend Jackie suggested it, and it was a darn good idea.

We got there this evening at 1730, and were immediately seated. I was surprised that we were seated so quickly, as we had seven, and the place was pretty crowded!

We had read reviews of Mama Rojas on the way over, and one review complained that queso was not served free with the meal. Not so for us, we had small bowls of queso and salsa for each seat. And it was GREAT! I think it was the best queso I have had, at a minimum, in the top five. There was a taste of something in there, a smoky flavor that I found irresistible. The salsa was pretty darn good also. It was a little thicker than a lot of restaurant salsa, and had just the right heat. I mixed a good spoonful of the salsa into the queso, wonderful! The chips were really good also, thin and fresh fried, with a slight sprinkling of salt. Great starters.

I got two enchiladas, one with chicken and one with ground beef, both covered with chili con carne. It came with some spanish rice and some pinto beans that had small ground sausage cooked in, pretty good (you can also get plain pintos or refried). The enchiladas were very good, as good as you could get at any good Tex-Mex place.

Raegan liked her sour cream chicken enchiladas, but they were too big for her appetite.

Jackie and Jack shared ground beef nachos, and like them.

Ian had chicken quesadillas and didn’t complain about them, so I guess they were good.

Livy had a hard taco and Erin had a soft taco. Both disappeared in less time than it takes to type this sentence, it seems.

The tea and Coke were good, although the tea started off a bit weak.

I think the prices were comparable to other place around town, although I think the entree portions were a bit smaller than, say, Ted’s.

When we left at 1825, the place was full and rocking! This was good, and the prices were reasonable, so I think we ought to eat there more. Of course, I could get addicted to that queso! Service was pretty good in spite of how busy the place was.